News 16:00

BULLETIN 11 December 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Families appeal to Equatorial Guinea to release the detained South African men before Christmas
# Rugby: The Bok lock Salmaan Moerat returns for the Stormers after an injury
# And less than 25-percent of the world’s tropical rainforests are able to safeguard threatened species

# Families of South African engineers Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham are begging the government of Equatorial Guinea to release them in time for Christmas. The United Nations has called their detention arbitrary and unlawful, with families urging compassion as their release would bring hope and healing this festive season. Spokesperson Shaun Murphy hopes this Christmas will mark their reunion after nearly two years apart:

# Minister of Higher Education and Training, Nobuhle Nkabane, has highlighted the need for greater investment in campus-based student accommodation. The department allocates billions of rand annually towards private housing for students, mainly through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. As part of this initiative, the minister unveiled a newly constructed 200-bed accommodation facility at the Tshwane University of Technology’s eMalahleni campus in Mpumalanga:

# The National Sea Rescue Institute has confirmed that a 62-year-old surfer drowned at Strand Beach in Cape Town, marking the fourth drowning along the coast in four days. NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon says despite CPR efforts, the man was declared dead. One of the other recent incidents also occured in Cape Town, and the others in Stilbaai, and East London. Authorities urge caution at beaches as investigations continue into these incidents.

# Rugby: Springbok lock Salmaan Moerat could come straight into the Stormers squad for the weekend’s Champions Cup match against Harlequins in London after returning from injury. He sustained a knee injury early in September. Moerat, who captained the Boks on occasion, left with the team for England. Boks Manie Libbok and Ben-Jason Dixon had to stay behind because of concussion sustained against Toulon last weekend. Stormers defence coach Norman Laker describes Moerat as a good leader who means a lot to the team.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-80-cents and the euro at 18-rand-71-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-424-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-696-dollars-94-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Research has revealed that less than 25-percent of the world’s remaining tropical rainforests can safeguard threatened species. Led by the University of Northern British Columbia, the study analysed rainforest integrity for over 16-thousand species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The findings published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show only eight-percent of rainforest habitats for threatened species are of high integrity. Lead researcher Rajeev Pillay has cited the urgent need for conservation strategies focusing on forest quality.

Stay tuned for more news………….